Packing for engines



PATENT JOHN G. FEBIGER, JR, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

PACKING FOR ENClNES, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 232,955, dated October 5, 1880.

Application filed August 18,1880. (Specimens) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CARSON FEBIGER, J12, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of 01'- leans and State of Louisiana, have discovered certain new and useful Improvements in the Packing of Engine, Tender, and Car Journals, and Stuffing-Boxes of Engines, Pumps, &;c.; and 1 do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the discovery, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make use of the same.

The object of my discovery is to provide a cheaper and better packingtorthejournals of railway rolling-stock and stuffing-boxes of engines, pumps, &c., than the material now generally used for that purpose-first, to provide a cheap packing; second, to provide a free and sufficient supply of oil to the journal; third, to prevent dirt and gravel (both of which are constantly forced into the journal-boxes) from coming in contact with thejournal and brass, thereby lengthening the life of each; fourth, to prevent the large loss of oil, bothin splashing out and that consumed by the packing,- and, fifth, to do away, in a great part, with the force employed to keep the journals in proper condition to move.

I attain these objects by the use of cottonseed hulls. These hulls are placed in the journal-box in sufficient quantity to cover about one-quarter of the under side of the journal. When this is done, \Vest Virginia oil or any other suitable lubricant is poured upon them in sufficient quantity to be absorbed by the nap that is attached to the hull. The oil is then held in suspension and ready to lubricate the journals, which is effectively done while the car isin motion. As the oilis taken up and used by the journal the hulls in contact with it are further supplied by drawing their supply from those below, and so continue until all the oil held by the nap has been used, which cannot be the case with cotton-waste packing.

The hulls are elastic and are not affected by the oil, and therefore last for an unlimited period, and, having no tendency to pack, they allow the gravel and dirt to fall to the bottom oi'the j ournal-box, which, in consequence, saves thejonrnal and brass and lengthens the number of miles made by both, and thus makes a great saving in each.

The oil held by the amount of hulls in the box will be sufficient for many thousand miles, as the only use made of it is in the proper lubrication of the journal, the oil being held by the nap so firmly that it cannot splash or waste from the box. This, then, naturally does away with much of the labor usually employed in paying the necessary attention to the proper condition or supply of the materials used to convey the lubricants to the journals.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

As a packing for the journals of engines and cars, and stufting-boxes for engines, pumps, &c., cotton-seed hulls, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

In testimony whereof I aftlx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JNO. O. FEBIGER, JR. Attest:

ANDREW HERO, J No. 1. WARD. 

